SW airlines sky high fares for decmeber: will they come down?

[disney world dreamer]

the prices just came out today and it would cost $210 from BUF to MCO and $247 from MCO to BUF!
$457 for a round trip???
are people really buying up the seats or is SW just being crazy and the fares will come down next week or next month?

 

[greenclan67]

I booked Xmas in October on SW as we were unsure we were going. I had buffalo to Orlando Dec 22nd to Dec 29 the at a $103 each way. I didn't book anything today either.

 

[gwb]

It's not just SW, Delta is outrageous as well. I recently rechecked costs and for Delta from Green Bay to MCO starts out at the cheapest at over $600 round trip for Dec. I got out tickets through United at $350 round trip a couple of months ago and Delta was over $450 then. UA is still at $350 when I checked. The other airline serving Green Bay are as high or higher then Delta. What happened to the so called price drop in air fare?

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

Airlines are making a mint these days. They are charging more than they did back when fuel was a lot higher. Until someone in the industry starts bringing down fares we will continue to get gouged by all carriers.

 

[kaytieeldr]

If you mean a profitable, successful business will continue to charge rates at which its research, experienc, and experts indicate it will maintain, even increase, success and profitability, then yes.

If leisure passengers were to refuse to pay the fares they consider unreasonable or extreme by finding other modes of travel or by staying home, airfares could well drop.

 

[pmama]

Yep, got up early this morning to book our Thanksgiving week flights and was very disappointed. I went ahead and booked the return flights as I know they will go up but am waiting to see if initial flights go down.

 

[mikehn]

Ive heard over and over that this year is a banner year for travel. Demand is very high. So don't hold your breath for fares to come down.

 

[Lynne G]

Yeah, because of school, we go around Christmas. Got a great deal 2 years ago, but this year was painful. I hope it reduces closer to when we travel.

 

[Gracie09]

Have you looked at jetblue.

 

[disney world dreamer]

Have you looked at jetblue.

jetblue's prices aren't much better.
plus we can't leave until my sister gets out of work so it has to be an evening flight.
and every single flight there has a layover at JFK.

at least southwest has direct flights with times that better mesh.

 

[disney world dreamer]

Yeah, because of school, we go around Christmas. Got a great deal 2 years ago, but this year was painful. I hope it reduces closer to when we travel.

we got a great price for december 2013 as well.
we went december 13-16 for a quick trip. (my sister is a teacher so she's tied to school breaks/summer for longer trips but she can afford to take just one day off to go for a long weekend)
we didn't buy our plane tickets until august for that trip so i'm not sure what the prices were when the dates first opened up. i guess we'll just wait it out. we aren't even completely sure if we are going or not right this second anyways.

 

[chicagoshannon]

Southwest is always high for us to Orlando (it's why we drive), but we got a really good rate today from Milwaukee to San Fran and LA to Milwaukee, about $140 each way.

 

[rstamm]

I got home from work and was going to start a thread on these ridiculous prices for December.
I use points and usually pay around 14,000 for a round trip Baltimore-Orlando it would cost around 40,000! OUCH

I will wait for Frontier and Allegiant and pay cash instead unless those fares come down.

I understand going up a little over the holidays but triple is crazy.

 

[mcd2745]

Airlines are making a mint these days. They are charging more than they did back when fuel was a lot higher. Until someone in the industry starts bringing down fares we will continue to get gouged by all carriers.

If you mean a profitable, successful business will continue to charge rates at which its research, experienc, and experts indicate it will maintain, even increase, success and profitability, then yes.

If leisure passengers were to refuse to pay the fares they consider unreasonable or extreme by finding other modes of travel or by staying home, airfares could well drop.

First problem is that the gov't has allowed too much consolidation in the airline industry. There simply isn't enough competition.

Secondly, there's been some practices by the airlines that can be considered a little "shady". They are not using all the slots they own at many airports nationwide. They are required by the FAA to make use of these slots, or they could lose them. So they "use" some of them by literally having empty planes take off (and, of course, land) and keep the slots out of the hand of competitors or any potential start-ups. This loophole - flying an empty plane - needs to be eliminated. There are simply less planes (carrying passengers) in the air these days. Supply is way down, while demand is strong. I'd bet there is a lot of collusion going on within the industry to keep prices so inflated. There's nothing wrong with businesses being successful and profitable - as long as their business practices are legitimate.

 

[vicarrieous]

We are actually driving three hours to fly out of MKE to MCO and got fares for $140/$126 pp.

Our local airport doesnt service Southwest and it was cheaper than MSP.

 

[v.t.]

Prices are crazy. We are flying to Cle for Thanksgiving and the return flight is $150 more per ticket than a round trip on Delta. I didn't like the times Delta offered so I was waiting on Souuthwest. The difference will be over $1500, so I guess we will be arriving after midnight.

 

[Disneylover99]

I booked Xmas in October on SW as we were unsure we were going. I had buffalo to Orlando Dec 22nd to Dec 29 the at a $103 each way. I didn't book anything today either.

Yup, same with us. We bought cheap SW flights out of Buffalo last October for Dec. 20-30.

 

[squeegee]

I guess I got really lucky, though I didn't realize it at the time. I wanted to fly out of San Antonio, but the prices were significantly higher than what I'd expected from all the stalking I've been doing.

So, we ended up flying out of Austin. There are three of us, and I had some points accumulated, but only enough for one leg of one persons trip. So, I booked DH and DD round trip, booked my outgoing one way with cash, then my return one way with points. All non-stops, too.

Grand total:$536.60!

I'll keep stalking to see if prices out of SA drop, but they would have run me over $450 more this morning, so I'm happy to make the hour-long drive to save that.

Wishing everyone much luck in their future stalking endeavors!

 

[nkereina]

the prices just came out today and it would cost $210 from BUF to MCO and $247 from MCO to BUF!
$457 for a round trip???
are people really buying up the seats or is SW just being crazy and the fares will come down next week or next month?

I fly out of Buffalo too and find the fares are often high and/or snatched up quickly due to the demand to MCO in this area. There are no direct flights to Orlando out of Rochester, so we get many of those folks. And we get most people from Southern Ontario, since flying out of Buffalo would make it a domestic flight for them.

I booked my flights for October when they were released a few months back and paid higher than normal fares as well. I looked this morning for October 31st, considering pushing my flight back a day, and by 10am today all the Wanna Get Away fares on direct flights for the 31st were sold out.

 

[DebbieB]

Flying PIT-MCO 12/5 to 11. Flights $141 + $123, not too bad. Didn't buy - kind of early.